VIOFO A119 Mini 2 Video and Screenshots

[Nigel]

Could someone please post some footage in starlight only ?
Without any other light source helping. I would love to experience how these perform in very low light...
Thank you

You need the moon before you can get a reasonable image, with only stars, the only thing visible is stars, a few planets, and the ISS, and not many of the stars are actually visible, the exposure settings are set up for dashcam use, not astronomy.

If you want to see the stars with a Starvis 2 sensor, get an astronomy camera:

Uranus-C USB3.0 Color Camera (IMX585) – Player One Astronomy

 

[d986p]

You sometimes see the term "Starlight lenses" for certain fast, wide aperture M12 dash cam lenses, While these lenses do indeed enhance performance in low light, the word "starlight" is really a marketing term more than an indication of their actual performance.

Here are a couple of links that inspired me.

Awesome in the second half

The parts with headlight off ...

This is a comparison with another capable but non starvis

NIR sensitivity of starvis 1 sensor imx462

Though this makes me think if starvis 1 is better suited for what I want. V3 makes the scene brighter. Or may be mini 2 needs manual increase of iso ??

 

[d986p]

The exposure settings are set up for dashcam use, not astronomy.

If you want to see the stars with a Starvis 2 sensor, get an astronomy camera:

Uranus-C USB3.0 Color Camera (IMX585) – Player One Astronomy

@Nigel
Those are way too costly.

I can tweak the iso and shutter time settings manually ... No ?

Also, I do not plan on watching distant objects in the sky. Just very good visibility in very low light. These dash cams have very good supporting chips. Much better than the modules for RPi etc. So I was hoping to set the parameters manually and use in near dark and with NIR light in total darkness. Also a rtsp stream will let me use some yolo magic for object detection etc if I want to.

Don't they allow manual setting of parameters to the full extent of those supported by the sensor ?

 

[Nigel]

@Nigel
Those are way too costly.

I can tweak the iso and shutter time settings manually ... No ?

Also, I do not plan on watching distant objects in the sky. Just very good visibility in very low light. These dash cams have very good supporting chips. Much better than the modules for RPi etc. So I was hoping to set the parameters manually and use in near dark and with NIR light in total darkness. Also a rtsp stream will let me use some yolo magic for object detection etc if I want to.

Don't they allow manual setting of parameters to the full extent of those supported by the sensor ?

The only exposure setting made available by the firmware is EV, which probably doesn't help very much. The Viofo camera auto exposure limits the exposure times because they want to limit motion blur, so there is a minimum light level at which they reasonably work, it is set up for use with cars with working headlights, not for driving in starlight! You can hack the firmware to change the auto exposure settings, not too difficult if you know what you are doing. The firmware does not provide access to manual settings, although I think it is just a matter of what is exposed on the menus, so if you have an http interface, you may be able to send manual exposure http commands.

If you are using NIR lights, then I think it should work best with default firmware and default settings, you just need bright enough lights to get acceptable quality.

 

[Dashmellow]

Here are a couple of links that inspired me.

Though this makes me think if starvis 1 is better suited for what I want. V3 makes the scene brighter. Or may be mini 2 needs manual increase of iso ??

None of these examples really function the same way dash cams do, nor do they likely use the same lenses that are in dash cams, even the ƒ/1.5 & ƒ/1.6 "Starlight" lenses we are seeing in dash cams these days.

I know from my own experience with the two A119 V3s I own that they can be impressive in low light but they are not capable of miracles. The A119 V3 and the A119 mini 2 both have the same ƒ/1.6 lens on them.

It isn't clear what you have in mind to accomplish but one thing you could do is modify an A119 camera with a different Starlight lens that has a MUCH wider aperture. Indeed, I have a hunch that the cameras used in your example videos are using such lenses to help achieve the ultra low light performance they do.

If you have some DIY skills you could install any of a number of extremely fast lenses on an A119 V3 or Mini 2 such as this 4mm ƒ/1.0, or some of the ƒ/1.2 lenses that are available. For daylight use you would need to add an appropriate IR-cut filter with the desired transmission characteristics such as allowing some level of NIR performance. AliExpress and eBay can be good sources of filters like this. Depending on your needs a standard 650nm IR-cut filter may well meet your needs.
As for these lenses keep in mind that they can be challenging to focus in some cameras and they will have less depth of field than most typical dash cam lenses but they offer extremely enhanced low light performance.





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[Panzer Platform]

Could someone please post some footage in starlight only ?

Would you settle for my dark garage? lol

 

[JDtime]

Would you settle for my dark garage? lol

Creepy.. horror movies start that way.. lmao

 

[Dashmellow]

Would you settle for my dark garage? lol

That's hardly starlight. Scientific facts don't seem to interest you.

Luminescence - Orders of Magnitude

 

[Dashmellow]

Creepy.. horror movies start that way.. lmao

It is creepy!

 

[d986p]

@Panzer Platform
It was creepy. Hahahaha
Thank you !



It went totally dark at 0.41 - 0.42 second. I wonder what kind of illuminance those two states were in.

@Dashmellow

Without high gain manual mode , I guess we can safely say that it won't perform like starlight security cam.
I think I also read somewhere that Starvis 2 was optimised for better dynamic range and Starvis 1 has the best low illuminance sensitivity. Wonder if that is true.

 

[Karagandinez]

Screenshots: Night. City.

 

[Nigel]

I think I also read somewhere that Starvis 2 was optimised for better dynamic range and Starvis 1 has the best low illuminance sensitivity. Wonder if that is true.

No.
It does depend on which Starvis 1 and Starvis 2 sensors you choose, but generally, Starvis 2 is far more sensitive than Starvis 1 and also has more dynamic range.

 

[Karagandinez]

Screenshots: Night. Firmware: V1.0_0801

 

[ogzogz]

@Karagandinez Could you share the make and model of your vehicle? Headlights are very effective in reading license plates. Yours illuminates very well.
The rear license plates of some vehicles are positioned slightly higher due to design. Because projector headlights have a sharp line. It may be difficult to read the plate above the line.

 

[Karagandinez]

@Karagandinez Could you share the make and model of your vehicle? Headlights are very effective in reading license plates. Yours illuminates very well.
The rear license plates of some vehicles are positioned slightly higher due to design. Because projector headlights have a sharp line. It may be difficult to read the plate above the line.

All videos shot before firmware V1.0_0801 are made from Mitsubishi Outlander.
Those with firmware V1.0_0801 are made from VW T5.

 

[NI_DashCam]

 

[gse]

First snow

 

[Karagandinez]

On the Mini 2 that had problems with video in the heat, a plastic lens holder was installed.
After complaints from users and testers, Viofo listened and replaced the lens holder with a metal one.
The Mini 2 with the updated lens has a metal lens holder.
Thanks to user gse for opening the Mini 2.

 

[Dashmellow]

The interesting thing is that FRP (fiber reinforced plastic) lens holders, which is what is often used in dash cams are supposed to be dimensionally stable despite temperature variations but for some reason they often are not.

 

[Karagandinez]

At the moment there is no better metal holder. Previously, the A119 also had problems due to the plastic holder.
After a long debate, Viofo replaced the holder with a metal one and no more problems arose,
until the Mini 2 again used a plastic holder and the problem arose again.